Post Office letter refers man to porn site

By Pat Maurer

A local Farwell man was referred to a porn site by a letter from the United State Postal Inspection Service.

Doug Brink of Farwell, who brought a copy of the letter he received to the Review, reportedly contacted the Farwell Post Office to report vandalism to his mailbox. Local Postal employees referred the matter to the Detroit Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Later Brink received a letter from Postal Inspector Jennifer Taylor of the Detroit Division in Allen Park outlining a number of actions to “help prevent destruction and theft of mail and mailboxes.”

Following her signature at the bottom of the letter was the Detroit Division address and a phone number beginning with 1-888.

When Brink called the phone number he got quite a surprise. A sultry female voice answered saying, “Let’s have a good time together. Call 1-800 ……”

It seems that to reach the Postal Inspector, the number he dialed should have begun with 1-877, not 1-888.

Irene Hanner at the Farwell Post office said officials there had referred the “issue” Brink had with his mailbox to the Postal Inspector. She said Brink was the only local person to get the letter from Taylor. She also provided the correct number to reach Taylor.

The correct number beginning with 1-877 is also listed on the official Postal Inspection website: postalinspectors.uspis.gov, but the 1-888 number is listed several times on other sites including in an article on endeavornews.com dated September, 2009, on an eBay feedback site for SCAM reporting and on a burglary report in Warren Vermont in 2009.

Jim Dahl owner of Computer Mechanix in Clare said the Postal Inspection Service “may have owned the 1-888 number earlier and then let it go and another company may have purchased it.”

Attempts to reach Taylor Thursday morning to find out if she was aware of the incorrect number on the letter and various websites and to ask if the phone number is also listed on other letters from the inspector were unsuccessful.